GAY, HERE AND NOW Joe Smitherman, 39, and his partner of seven years, Jason Knaley, 31, of the West End. The Enquirer/STEVEN M. HERPPICH

This Enquirer special report consists of four parts Tuesday: • Coming out's effect lasts a lifetime • Awkward moments don't have to happen • School groups try to promote understanding Monday: • Gay parents face extra challenges • What would you do if your child were gay? Sunday: • Coming to terms with gay issues • Survey: What's gay-friendly, what's not? • Covington's legal protections 'reassuring' • Voters, churches and lawyers weigh in on debate on rights • Words and phrases to know • Calls refer to homosexual rights • Bronson: Straight, gay: disagreeing without hate Wednesday: Daily workplace drama Online special: • Complete results of WCPO/Enquirer poll

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Gay in Cincinnati: What do you think?

It's a Tuesday afternoon, and the last bell of the day just stopped ringing.

But here they are, entering a classroom in twos and threes, greeting each other with high squeals and hugs.

"By saying something that is stupid is gay, you're basically saying that being gay is stupid," Rebecca Bernstein, 16, reads from notecards as the chatter dies down. "If we all think before we speak and point out people's mistakes, maybe this world would be a better place for homosexuals and all people."

This is the gay-straight alliance at Wyoming High School, one of at least 11 such groups in the region and 1,800 in the nation. Student-led and meeting after school hours, the groups use education and advocacy to fight harassment and to support gay youths and friends.

It's not hard to understand why the groups have grown over the past decade. Love, intrigue and teenage drama rule in high school. As kids test new adult feelings, anyone outside the norm is a target for teasing and shame.

The harassment can be horrid.

According to a 2003 survey by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 84 percent of gay students said they were harassed because of their sexual orientation.

Gay youths who were verbally abused were twice as likely to say they didn't intend to go to college, and their grade point averages were lower (2.9 vs.3.3) than gays who reported they were not verbally abused.

Many said they felt unsafe and reported missing classes or skipping entire days of school.

Typically, at the beginning of each alliance meeting, the rules are made clear: This is a safe environment, and everyone is free to talk. Students don't have to state their sexual orientation. Everything is confidential.

Several people in the Wyoming alliance, which meets every other Tuesday, are straight and come in support of friends. Others come because they have been picked on for years - some because they are gay and some because they have a gay parent.

Mostly, though, they're just like any other high-school kids. One boy slouches on the floor clad in baggy pants and a ragged-out sweatshirt. A girl leans against a desk with rubber bracelets up to her elbow. Another casually perches cross-legged on a table, all knee socks and sassy, clunky shoes.

At Lakota West High School, where students also gather weekly, the topic is school announcements.

Alliance announcements aren't regularly broadcast with the other clubs' news. And because the group's posters are often torn down, some Lakota students don't even know the group exists, alliance members say.

They especially hate the slurs.

One 16-year-old says she gets called names all the time. "And you don't understand why they would do that to you, when they never talk to you for any other reason besides that, ever," she says.

Some schools create gay-straight alliances because they celebrate diversity. Others know they're legally obligated to do so if asked, says Kathy Laufman, chairman of community education for the Cincinnati Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

The alliances are protected under the federal Equal Access Act, which allows student-led, special interest clubs to organize in public high schools.

Students say the benefits can't be understated: "After a week of dealing with stuff you don't want to be dealing with, it's nice to go somewhere you can express yourself," the Lakota West girl says.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com

Area Alliances

The Cincinnati Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network works with gay-straight alliances at these area high schools:
• Cincinnati Country Day
• Finneytown
• Lakota East
• Lakota West
• Milford
• Princeton
• Summit Country Day
• Sycamore
• Talawanda
• Walnut Hills
• Wyoming